Page 37 - LLR-Exploration II

Party Culture, use
These parties lasted for days with the expense of feeding and housing the guests. But by the time of José
María Villavicencio’s death in 1853, the lucrative sale of cattle, horse and sheep began to decline in value.
Other sources of food were developed in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Northern San Joaquin for multi-day
Valley.
retreats and events
He left his ranch to his seven sons and his widow, Rafaela Rodríguez. The family was likely overleveraged in
1853, but matters worsened. Drought and flash floods brought on typhus followed by cholera. Many of the
Native American vaqueros died. The ranch fell into disrepair. _________________

There was the cost of the land survey and documentation of the 1841 Mexican Land Grant required by the _________________
United States Land Act of 1851. California Sen. William Gwin’s legislation was intended to bankrupt the _________________
Californio rancheros. Most of the Californians had little knowledge of a cash economy because barter was _________________
the custom of the territory until the coming of the Americans. Confronted with high county taxes, three
dollars an acre for good land and inflated surveyor and attorney fees, Señora Villavicencio borrowed the _________________
funds from local merchants such as David Mallagh and Sam Pollard. _________________

Finally, in 1860, Rafaela borrowed a large sum from her brother, Jacinto Rodriguez, a Monterey County _________________
rancher. The Great Drought of 1863-65 left scarcely a drop of moisture, and the great herds of Mission-era _________________
cattle and sheep died off. Jacinto persuaded Rafaela’s sons to sell their share of the Corral de Piedra to him.
_________________
Jacinto had become acquainted with dairymen George Steele and his brothers Edgar W., Isaac C., and
Rensselaer E. Steele. The Steeles, from Ohio, started farming north of San Francisco. They found fog- _________________
shrouded Point Reyes in Marin County was ideal for dairy farming. _________________

Their cheese- and butter-making operations in nearby Petaluma made them wealthy pioneers of the _________________
California dairy industry. _________________

They were unable to purchase more grazing land at Point Reyes, so in 1861 they purchased the Rancho _________________
Punta del Año Nuevo in western San Mateo County.
_________________
The Steeles knew the rains would return to the drought-stricken Corral de Piedra. They purchased it in 1866 _________________
and made San Luis Obispo the dairy center of Western America.
________________

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